The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

The Recovery Agent is super fun and over the top. Don't think about it too hard, just enjoy the ride - or jungle trek. Gabriela's family is in the midst of losing their home, their town, and their jobs after a hurricane did severe damage and they didn't receive any federal aid. Her grandma has a plan. Gabriela just needs to get the chest hidden for decades, over a century maybe, in her ex-husband's house and use the maps and journals to find a treasure. Of course, her ex-husband finds her when she's searching under his floors and decides he's going to tag along with her on the treasure hunt. They head to Peru, on the trail of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. Rafe, the ex-husband, and Gabriela are a good team, whether she wants them to be or not. The banter is funny and the chemistry is good. We've got a lot of chasing, globetrotting, drug...
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The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton

The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton

I thoroughly enjoyed The Bounty. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a good book, but for me, it was a lot of fun. Yes, it's over the top. No, it's not realistic. Don't expect character growth or believable scenes. There's non-stop action, decent chemistry between Nick and Kate, practically unstoppable bad guys, and a whirlwind tour of Europe. I will say the blurb is misleading in a couple of things. First, Quentin did not teach Nick everything he knows, Nick wasn't actually aware of much of what his dad was up to. They are very similar though. Second, Kate and Jake get along just fine. They recognize each other's skills and stubbornness and work well together. The story's a treasure hunt, with iconic places and dangerous obstacles. Even though it's not a scam, Nick's talents definitely have their uses. The bad guys are off course always right on Kate and Nick's trail and, for various reasons, Kate can't count on any official...
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Killer Thriller by Lee Goldberg

Killer Thriller by Lee Goldberg

I recently read The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad about spies and violence and politics and it was very good. Killer Thriller is not "good" in the same way, but it is fun and funny and over the top, and it knows it. This is the second in the series and although it works as a stand-alone, the first one is a blast, so I'd read it first. Ian Ludlow writes cheesy thrillers and one is being turned into a movie. He and his assistant Margo head to Hong Kong to participate in some of the publicity surrounding the shooting and to do some research for the novel he's working on. The problem: once again Ian's plot, although outrageous, is too close to reality for him to be safe. This time, his story's about how the Chinese government is planning a coup of the U.S.A using sleeper agents in high government positions and the surveillance technology that they have hidden in...
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Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

Janet Evanovich can be hit and miss for me. I'm not sure which category Curious Minds falls into. I like Knight and Moon. He is over the top eccentric, but cute and funny. Moon follows the rules, usually, but ends of having to go along with Knight. They are a good couple, and the dialogue at times is laugh-out-loud funny, but I'm not quite buying the sparks yet. I think for the pair of them, this was a good first novel. I think I'll enjoy them in later books, as long as the plot is a bit better. The whole conspiracy in this one was just over the top. Brothers working together to steal money from the Federal Reserve and more or less control all the world's economy, I think. The conspiracy reaches into the NSA and the Supreme Court. Maybe something like that could happen, but it stretched believability for me. It's just too big for the wacko and side kick to deal with...
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